Editor’s note: This article continues the series exploring structured innovation using the TRIZ methodology, a problem-solving, analysis, and forecasting tool derived from studying patterns of invention found in global patent data.

The members of the executive council had been focusing on TRIZ for several months, learning its tools, and applying it in their own businesses with guidance from their consultant Henrietta.

Josh, who ran an electroplating business, was one of the ardent supporters. He had started his career as a marine engineer and had worked in a shipyard, eventually purchasing the business he currently operated. He still had an interest in ship design and was interested in learning how TRIZ could be applied in shipbuilding. He found, not surprisingly, that TRIZ had already been applied to solve some of the common issues in that industry, and he was anxious to share some of these examples with the group.

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